I am in the process of selling my house in Ardleigh Green and the EA has just telephoned to advise that the purchasers are swapping property lawyer. The reason given is that the bank will only work with property lawyers on their approved list. Why would a major mortgage company only work with specific lawyers rather the firm that they want to select for their conveyancing in Ardleigh Green ?
Mortgage companies have always had panels of law firms they are willing to work with, but in the past few years big names such as HSBC, have reviewed and reduced their conveyancing panel– in some cases removing conveyancing firms who have represented them for more than 15 years.
Lenders attribute this action to a rise in fraud by way of justification for the reduction – criteria have been narrowed as a smaller panel is easier to oversee. No lender will say how many solicitors have been dropped, claiming the information is commercially sensitive, but the Law Society says it is being contacted daily by practices that have been removed from panels. Plenty of firms do not even realise they have been dropped until contacted by a borrower who has instructed them as might be the situation in your buyers' case. The purchasers are not going to have any sway in the decision.
Will conveyancers ask for an advanced payment for my conveyancing in Ardleigh Green?
Where you are retaining lawyers for conveyancing in Ardleigh Green your solicitor will ask you place them with monies to cover the search fees. This will be the total of the cost of the Local Authority Search. When the down payment is payable against the sale price then this will be needed immediately prior to exchange of contracts. Any further balance that is due should be sent to your lawyer a few days prior to the day of completion.
We are selling our apartment in Ardleigh Green. Will my solicitor have to be on the Lloyds conveyancing panel in order to deal with redeeming my mortgage?
Ordinarily, even if your lawyer is not on the Lloyds conveyancing panel they can still act for you on your sale. It might be that the lender will not release the original deeds (if applicable and increasingly irrelevant) until after the mortgage is paid off. You should speak to your lawyer directly before you start the process though to ensure that there is no problem as lenders are changing their requirements fairly frequently in recent years.
I have been on the look out for a flat up to £245,000 and found one close by in Ardleigh Green I like with amenity areas and station in the vicinity, however it's only got 49 remaining years left on the lease. I can't really find anything else in Ardleigh Green suitable, so just wondered if I would be making a grave error buying a lease with such few years left?
If you need a mortgage the shortness of the lease will be an issue. Discount the price by the amount the lease extension will cost if it has not already been discounted. If the current owner has owned the premises for at least twenty four months you can ask them to start the process of the extension and then assign it to you. An additional ninety years can be extended on to the existing lease and have £0 ground rent by law. You should consult your conveyancing solicitor concerning this.
We're first time buyers - agreed a price, but the property agent told us that the vendor will only go ahead if we use their chosen solicitors as they want an ‘expedited deal’. We would rather use a high street conveyancer who is accustomed to conveyancing in Ardleigh Green
We suspect that the seller is not behind this requirement. Should the seller require ‘a quick sale', alienating a serious buyer is counter productive. Avoid the agents and go straight to the owners and make the point that (a)you are serious buyers (b)you are ready to go, with mortgage lined up © you have nothing to sell (d) you wish to move quickly (e)but you will continue to use your preferred Ardleigh Green conveyancing lawyers - rather thanthe ones that will earn their estate agent a commission or meet his conveyancing thresholds demanded by head office.